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ISSUES: Privacy
Chapter 1: What is privacy?
Article 8: respect for your private and
family life
A
rticle 8 protects your right to
respect for your private life,
your family life, your home
and your correspondence (letters,
telephone calls and emails, for
example).
What is meant by private life?
You have the right to live your life
privately
without
government
interference.
The courts have interpreted the
concept of ‘private life’ very broadly.
It covers things like your right to
determine your sexual orientation,
your lifestyle, and the way you look
and dress. It also includes your right
to control who sees and touches your
body. For example, this means that
public authorities cannot do things like
leave you undressed in a busy ward,
or take a blood sample without your
permission.
The concept of private life also covers
your right to develop your personal
identity and to forge friendships and
other relationships. This includes a right
to participate in essential economic,
social, cultural and leisure activities. In
some circumstances, public authorities
may need to help you enjoy your right
to a private life, including your ability to
participate in society.
This right means that the media
and others can be prevented from
interfering in your life. It also means
that personal information about you
(includingofficial records, photographs,
letters, diaries and medical records)
should be kept securely and not shared
without your permission, except in
certain circumstances.
What is meant by family life?
You have the right to enjoy family
relationships without interference from
government. This includes the right to
live with your family and, where this
is not possible, the right to regular
contact.
‘Family life’ can include the relationship
between an unmarried couple, an
adopted child and the adoptive parent,
and a foster parent and fostered child.
What ismeant by home?
The right to respect for your home does
not give you a right to housing. It is a right
to enjoy your existing home peacefully.
This means that public authorities should
not stop you entering or living in your
home without very good reason, and
they should not enter without your
permission. This applies whether or not
you own your home.
Are there any restrictions to this
right?
There are situations when public
authorities can interfere with your right
to respect for private and family life,
home and correspondence. This is only
allowed where the authority can show
that its action is lawful, necessary and
proportionate in order to:
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protect national security
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protect public safety
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protect the economy
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protect health or morals
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prevent disorder or crime, or
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protect the rights and freedoms of
other people.
Action is ‘proportionate’ when it is
appropriate and no more than necessary
to address the problem concerned.
Using this right - example
A physical disabilities team at a local
authority decided to use support
workers to help service users enjoy social
activities, including visits to pubs and
clubs. But when a service user asked tobe
accompanied to a gay pub, the scheme
manager refused on the grounds that
the support workers were not prepared
to attend a gay venue. Recognising the
human rights angle, an advocateworking
on behalf of the service user challenged
this decisionbasedon the right to respect
for private life.
(Example provided by the British Institute
of Human Rights.)
What the lawsays
Article 8: right to privacy
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Everyone has the right to respect for
his private and family life, his home
and his correspondence.
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There shall be no interference by a
public authority with the exercise
of this right except such as is in
accordance with the law and is
necessary in a democratic society
in the interests of national security,
public safety or the economic
well-being of the country, for the
prevention of disorder or crime, for
the protection of health or morals, or
for the protection of the rights and
freedoms of others.
Example case – Goodwin & I v
United Kingdom [2002]
This case heard in the European Court
of Human Rights explored issues for
transsexual people in relation to their
rights to private life and to marry. The
judgement was a landmark decision for
the treatment of transsexual people, a
group which had not been recognised in
UK law as:
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their acquired gender
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able to hold a birth certificate
showing their acquired gender, and
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able to marry someone of the
opposite gender.
The Court ruled that this treatment
violated both the right to private life and
the right to marry. The UK Government
later introduced the Gender Recognition
Act 2004, creating amechanismto enable
all these things.
Last updated: 4May 2016
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The copyright in the document this
publication has been adapted from
and all other intellectual property
rights in that material are owned by,
or licensed to, the Commission for
Equality and Human Rights, known
as the Equality and HUman Rights
Commission (“the EHRC”).
© Equality and Human Rights
Commission 2017
